ABOUT – My Yellow Farmhouse

In July of 2017 I moved to St. Augustine, Florida. Although I loved living in my wonderful yellow farmhouse in New England, it was sooo much work. Not to mention the expense of keeping such a huge place going.

As I’ve always done, I put my heart & soul into that place, and now a lovely young couple are enjoying my extensive gardens etc.

Moving was difficult, but I LOVE it here in St. Augustine! And, although I’m posting recipes from a ‘warmer clime’, the love and joy behind each recipe remains the same.

My family and I moved lots and lots of times – at last count around 20 times! And not all those moves were in the States. We lived in Quebec, Canada, where we had a wonderful 132 acre farm. I sometimes cooked on an old wood stove while living in Quebec and enjoyed it very much. And we lived in the tiny island country of Malta, where I had a very tiny (by American standards) oven – and I still have scars on my hands from trying to remove things from that oven.

Our Beloved Farmhouse in Western Massachusetts (USA)

I know some people absolutely hate to cook, and that may be because they’re making a chore out of it. Cooking should be enjoyable and fun. And, for me, the fun comes from cooking, serving and eating with lots of love! Delicious food can be made from the simplest ingredients, as long as it’s cooked with love. At times, especially early in our marriage, we had very little money but we still ate well.

‘Not Your Grandmother’s’ Bread Pudding

So many of our happiest memories revolve around enjoying great food with those we love. My sons, now adults, like nothing better than being served some special dish from their childhood. A simple chicken dish, pasta or soup can invoke warm memories. And there’s sure to be smiling faces whenever a favorite dessert is served.

‘Farmhouse Bread’ – Possibly the Easiest Bread You’ll Ever Bake!

Pizza Bread Swirls

There’s always something very special about recipes which have been handed down from generation to generation, such as Grammy Brouillette’s French Canadian Meat Pie. Years ago, when I was 15, I learned to prepare a pretty darn good lasagna from my beloved Italian-American neighbor. She, herself, inherited the recipe from her grandmother. Every person who loves to cook shares recipes – as well as often asking, “How did you make this? Can I have the recipe – And so it goes!

Saffron Rice with Chutney Shrimp and Caramelized Onions

I started this blog, My Yellow Farmhouse, to share recipes, obviously, but also to share some of the life, love and laughter behind the recipes. I hope you enjoy your visit to My Yellow Farmhouse and that you plan to drop by again soon!

Would you like to receive each new recipe by email? Its simple – just enter your email address on my homepage. : o )

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40 thoughts on “ABOUT – My Yellow Farmhouse”

Love your website, my Yellow Farm House sounds delightful. I love the comments made by your fans.
I am 80 years of age and living in an aged care village here in New South Wales, Australia. I only have basic cooking needs as our meals are provided. But (there’s always a but, isn’t there) I miss cooking so but I am allowed to have a toaster and a microwave. This recipe is just the job so thanks very much.

Sorry.
I just realised that you wouldn’t know which recipe I was talking about.
It was the microwaved Mushroom soup. So, I will watch your page for more microwave recipes Thanks again and thanks to all my Canadian friends.
B.T

Hi Brian – thanks so much for taking the time to ‘chat’ here on My Yellow Farmhouse. It’s always wonderful to make a new friend!
I’m so glad you like the Mushroom Soup recipe? Tell me, have you tried it yet?
You know, when microwaves first came out, people were using them to cook… but that died out. I think that’s a shame because there’s lots of things that can be cooked in a microwave.
Here’s a tip for cooking chicken in the microwave. Place boneless chicken breasts on a plate. Not too many – just one or two. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
You can cook the chicken on ‘high’ or, if your microwave allows it, at 50%.
Keep on eye on the chicken because the thinner ends cook quicker and you don’t want to dry out your chicken.
You don’t need to cook the chicken for very long… just until it’s cooked through.
You will not believe how juicy and tender it is!
If you want to ‘jazz it up’, place a piece of ham and a piece of Swiss cheese (or any kind of cheese) on top of the cooked chicken and microwave just until the cheese is melted.
; o )

Love your website “My Yellow Farmhouse”
Father was French Canadian and really liked the
old recipes of his youth.
Mother was Irish learned very little about french cooking.
will try some of your recipes.
Thank you for sharing.

Thanks so much Ellen for taking the time to both drop by and to comment. I’ve never been able to quite make French Canadian Meat Pies as delicious as my mothers. I think many people can say the same when it comes to their mother’s cooking – not matter what their lineage.
My husband was French Canadian and did he ever LOVE French Canadian cooking. His aunt, who lived not far from Quebec City, used to always make French Canadian Ragu whenever my husband and I came to visit them at the old family farm. Such great memories! ; o )

I love your Yellow Farmhouse home! It’s now on my wish list to photograph in Winter! Of course if you add a photo in Spring, and Summer, and beautiful Fall I would probably want to photograph every season of your house! 🙂

Two of the rooms in my house are yellow. Our little dressing/sitting area in our Master Bedroom, and my old Retreat which now is #1 Grandson’s room. It’s a little bit of sunshine inside all the time.

I’ve moved 13 times in my life so far. For as long as I can remember moving as a child I didn’t really like it. I wanted to stay where I was at “home base” with my friends and familiar surroundings, I would say, “let’s just travel and take trips and come back here. Why do we have to move?” I was born under a Wandering Star. I love to travel! But, I want to go home to my stuff, town, and roots 🙂 My parents were following their careers, and making the best choices for the family so we moved.
As an adult I’ve made 4 moves and I hope He-Man and I make one more. I hadn’t ever counted how many times I’ve moved in my life until now. 13 times…It always felt like a lot. Well, my favorite number is 14 so there must be one more move in my life. He-Man and I both would like to retire somewhere else…somewhere far from the Maddening Crowd…perhaps it’s in the cards?

I’ve only lived in the United States, North Carolina, Kentucky, and California.

Cooking/Baking- I started cooking in 7th grade; the year it was a required course in Jr. High. I loved it. My Mother isn’t a great cook…she a distracted cook, but an excellent baker. To taste food cooked right was wonderful. I love to cook. I just detest having to do all the clean up too. Now that the kids are grown I don’t cook very much anymore. Only on holidays, or when were all together and they ask for a dish they like, and Winter. I make a lot of stews and soups in the Winter. Thankfully He-Man is easy going with that, and likes salads, soups, and lite meals in the warmer months.

I so enjoyed reading your comment – thanks for taking the time to write! I, too, don’t cook or bake all that much since I have no more children at home… and my own “He-Man” died eight years ago. But just last night I went grocery shopping with the intention of cooking more often – and eating better!
Thanks again for taking the time to comment – and for following “My Yellow Farm House”! ; o )

Hi There Syd !! Thanks so much for posting a comment on my blog. I love you and your brother so very much! Next time I see you let’s make pizza and Cream Cheese and Chocolate Filled Monkey Bread!! ; o )

Aren’t you sweet! I’m sooo far behind in keeping up with all the bloggers I follow – such as yourself. I’ve been very busy preparing my beloved yellow farmhouse for sale. It’s all become a bit too much for me with the barn, the house and the property. I’m planning to do LOTS of traveling once the house is sold. And – I sure hope to have more time to keep up with the blogs I’ve been missing out on. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!! ; o )

Hi Cecile, My hubby and I are restoring an 1893 farmhouse in rural Kansas. I love your beautiful farmhouse and all that you do on your blog. thanks for sharing apart of yourself with us. You are inspiring!

Thanks for your sweet comments!! I want to ‘check out’ your blog – it’ll be fun to see what you’re doing there! I just repainted my dining room and I’m sooo happy how the yellow both brightens up the room and makes it look so much bigger!

Hi Lynn – thanks for your kind words. I haven’t posted a recipe since June…. I’ve just been too busy this summer having fun it seems! I hope you do follow me – go to the home page of ‘My Yellow Farmhouse’ and click on ‘follow’ = and there you go!! ‘ o )

Christine
Hi Cecile, I am new to your site. It is lovely and your home beautiful. I am in eastern Mass. and love it along with all 70+ inches of snow. I came across your site while looking for a chicken and Stovetop stuffing recipe. You stated it is similar to your recipe minus the sour cream. I cannot find the recipe on your site, I cannot find a place to look up recipes on here unless I am really that computer UNsavvy. Thanks

Hi Christine – thank you so much for commenting!! I know – you guys REALLY got IT this year as far as snow goes!! And as I type this it’s snowing lightly but the snow is fierce! Actually, I have a great chicken and stuffing (and gravy) that is cooked in the microwave. So it’s fast – and delicious! I’m going to write myself a note & I’ll post that very soon. (Today I have two to post – one for a wonderful walnut bread made in a breadmaker. The other is called ‘Ham, Chicken and O’Brien Potato Casserole, which is super easy to prepare. And it feeds a crowd, which I always love! ++ So, be sure to check back soon – I’ll have the recipe you requested posted this week. (To search for recipes – enter a name of a recipe in the box that says, ‘Enter Keywords Here’.)

I love this house! Of course, I’ve loved each and every place we’ve lived in (for the most part…) but I do think this house has ended up being my favorite. I’m so glad you liked my ‘Yellow Farmhouse’ !! ++ One time, in Malta, the wife of an acquaintance of my husband’s asked me, upon seeing a photo of our farmhouse in Quebec, why I called that house a ‘farmhouse’. I told her because it’s a house … and it’s on a farm. (Duh..) She really surprised me because I was sure she they were well-traveled but, I guess to her, a ‘farmhouse’ wasn’t a ‘farmhouse’ unless it looked like a Maltese farmhouse.. which are entirely made from sandstone and are, for the most part, pretty old. Now that people have been purchased those old farm houses and bringing them up to date, the prices have gone sky high. One of the other types of houses in Malta are called ‘Houses of Character’… which I had never heard of before… those were also usually made from sandstone but are richer and bigger than ‘farmhouses’… but could be just as old. I found it all pretty fascinating !!

Hi Mimi – you didn’t actually miss the photo of my house…. I re-did my ‘About’ page a little while ago. If you like, you could ‘check out’ two of my posts which show photos of our beloved farm in St. Antoine de Tilly, Quebec. Just enter ‘farmhouse St. Antoine de Tilly’ in the Search Bar on my home page – I think you’ll see why we loved our farm so much, as did all the friends & family who visited us there. We were only about 35 minutes from Quebec City, which I also love !! (I’ve gotta get back up there soon!!)

Hi There – so glad you visited my blog! About The Popover Experiment – I recently rec’d a comment about my Recipe No. 2 – it seems that particular recipe was her family’s favorite and it’s going to be the only one her family will make from now on. I feel pretty happy about that! It’s my favorite popover recipe as well, so when you get a chance, give those a try. And, since you’ve had a bit of trouble with popovers before, check out my first popover post because I give a list of tips for making popovers!
Make sure you let me know how they come out!! ; o )

Hi Cecile….Great blog! I must stop by and spend some time looking at your posts. The Popover Experiment – 1, 2 and 3…LOL – I really need to try your recipe. I am a total failure making Popovers! Sometimes we call them Dutch babies! Either way, they are nothing to write home about nor take photos of when I make them! Even my teenage grandson could make these gems! Sigh!!! And….I love that you serve them with a preserve sometimes! Great idea. Have a lovely weekend.

Thank you so much Dan – I appreciate your nomination very much! Also, thank you so very much for including a link to my blog. I often include links to some of the blogs I follow – it’s a great way to share great recipes. (I’m going to your award nomination page right now!)

I loved your comment! When we lived in Malta, many of the houses had stone steps. It was so amazing to see the stone steps worn down after hundreds of years of use. My stairs are not worn down like yours. I guess my house needs another 100 years!! Thanks so much for sharing. It’s nice to think of you snug in your lovely old and loved farmhouse!!

Hi Karen – I bet your house is wonderful ! This particular “old yellow farm house” was built in 1888. And the farm house we owned in St. Antoine de Tilly, Quebec, Canada was built in the 188o’s as well. I often think of all those who lived (and very well might have died) here before. You and I are just temporary owners – and someday others will enjoy our wonderful old farm houses! Thanks so much for your comment!!!

I often think of those that came before us…especially when I look at the stairs that have been worn closest to the railing. Each owner has walked in exactly the same place…in my house for almost three hundred years.